1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to confocal microscopic equipment that displays an object under test in three-dimensional form using a confocal microscope. More precisely, the present invention relates to an improvement for optical production of real-time three-dimensional displays of an object by realizing high resolution and large depth of focus in real-time at high speed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 7 shows an example of the conventional type of confocal microscopic equipment. The equipment captures an image of sample 11 using confocal scanner 20 mounted on optical microscope 10 and takes photographs of this image with camera 30. To confocal scanner 20, the laser beam generated from laser light source 50 is supplied.
The output signal of camera 30 is converted to a digital signal through converter 40 and stored in a memory means (not shown in the figure) in computer 60.
In optical microscope 10, stage 12 on which sample 11 is mounted is built to be movable in the optical axis direction (Z-axis direction) by controller 13 (illustrated separately from optical microscope 10 in FIG. 7 to avoid complication). Controller 13 is constructed to move stage 12 in the Z-axis direction by turning the rotary knob (not shown in the figure) of stage 12 using a pulse motor (not shown in the figure).
Sliced images of sample 11 can be obtained by scanning the beam in directions perpendicular to the optical axis (X- and Y-axis directions) using confocal scanner 20. In this case, if multiple sliced images are sampled progressively by moving stage 12 in the Z-axis direction with controller 13 and then are reconstructed using computer 60, a three-dimensional image of sample 11 can be obtained.
However, there are the following problems in confocal microscopic equipment constructed as described above:
(1) Problems caused by the fact that controller 13 is driven by a pulse motor. PA1 (2) Problems caused by reconstructing a three-dimensional image with computer 60.
(a) The entire body of stage 12 is moved up and down. However, since the weight of stage 12 is heavy and thus its inertia is also large, stage 12 cannot be moved at high speed and so its movement takes a long time. PA2 (b) It is not accurate. Since the rotary knob of stage 12 is turned by a pulse motor, out-of-step (the pulse motor appears to move but actually does not move) or hysteresis occurs during motion at the rack-pinion portion linking the rotary knob to stage 12. Hence, it is not known whether stage 12 has actually moved and so the movement is not accurate. PA2 (c) Usually, a pulse motor has a large external size and is difficult to install. PA2 (a) It takes a long time; it typically takes from several minutes to tens of minutes to obtain an image sheet. PA2 (b) Software for reconstructing three-dimensional images is expensive and is also difficult to operate.